Among the many, many things Reddit has done right was to make and retain some excellent friends from his days at Trinity seminary back in Illinois. Reddit knows (and drops) so many big names that we in the Men's Fellowship tease him a fair bit, asking whether he's had lunch with John Owen and Jonathan Edwards, too. Reddit led their chapel program, and in the course of that started a relationship with Dr. D. A. Carson.

You don't need me to tell you about D. A. Carson. I'd be interested in a productivity comparison between the late F. F. Bruce and Carson. The good doctor is a world-class Biblical scholar with NT emphasis, and has written or edited a truckload of books, including popular works, textbooks, and commentaries. He's a rare and precious combination of top-rate academics, love for the Lord, concern for His church, and crackling, powerful communication.

So Reddit is famous now because Justin Taylor writes about the collaboration Dr. Carson invited Reddit to join, and the conference they're having in Illinois. One of the workshops?

I've a long list of URL's I've found that feature Carson's lectures and sermons, and I think I have downloaded and listened to all of them. Last week, I attended the Philadelphia Conference for Reformed Theology meeting in Sacramento, about which perhaps I'll write more later. Carson spoke, and he was brilliant.

But here's the cool thing, on a personal level. Early on I gave Reddit a heads-up, and his friend Dr. Carson agreed to preach to our church last Sunday evening. It's not a large church, as "large churches" are measured today. Large for my experience of churches numbering in the dozens, but it's maybe a couple of hundred or more. (I don't do numbers. Ask my wife.)

So here's this little church and this distinguished, international speaker — and the preaching was wonderful. Don't take my word for it; you can hear it for yourself. My 11yo son Josiah sat with me, and Carson held his attention; he's discussed it with us since, which is very cool.

BTW, as always, I distinguished myself. Before the first meeting at the Conference on Saturday, I went to use one of the two very small restrooms in the large, old host church. It was a neat building, but I've never seen men standing in line before, while the women's room had no line. (Poetic justice, I know, ladies.)

When my turn came, I pushed the door open and unceremoniously whacked a gentleman waiting inside.

Haha, the Don connected me with both my grandfather and father with one look at my surname, Dan, at a conference in November. But that'd be the grandfather o mine whose book you didn't like the look of. And Carson speaks French. So maybe you should be more careful with whom you associate - you can be just too hasty in name-dropping... ;-)

I saw Don Carson when he came to a local church I once attended to talk about the dangers of the Emergent Church movement. He was excellent, of course, and very careful in his analysis. It's interesting because the EC people (McLaren especially) say Dr. Carson "doesn't understand" them. Every time I hear that, I find myself wanting to borrow one of Phil's Costco meat chubs. I am glad you got to hear him first hand. I'd like to hear a lot more myself.

I hope this isn't off topic, but the idea of name dropping sparked me thinking of it. I am at the Shepherd's Conference currently, and I saw something tonight that blessed me beyond words. John MacArthur was keynoting tonight preaching on Luke 18. In the front row were Drs. Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever and Steve Lawson. All had their Bibles out, notepads in hand, and were listening intently to John preach. (When John was listening to the others, ditto)

I thought it was so cool to see world class preachers and Bible scholars like that so eager to hear and, yes, learn from each other's messages, instead of just dutifully sitting there with the "I know all this already" attitude we often see. Maybe that's an odd thing to bless somebody, but it did. I loved to see the love and respect for one another that was there. They don't know it, but their example spoke volumes.

Thanks for that great observation, Solameanie. I think the attitude you saw there of ongoing teachability is a characteristic of a great preacher, teacher or man of God. I've seen that in my own sr. pastor, who often has sat in on Sunday school classes I am teaching, and is always taking notes and listening (and not correcting!). On more than one occasion he's used things he picked up in my class or others classes in his sermon - and almost always gives credit for where he got it. Praise God for humble servants who are always looking to be sharpened further by others.

The Doulos: I referred to Dr. D.A.Carson as 'the Don'. A jokey honourific that (on reflection) is probably only used for him in Britain, since a) a British 'don' is a university tutor, esp. at Cambridge or Oxford and b) we've a fondness for giving jokey titles / diminuitive nicknames to those we admire (Stottie, The Dr. (that's MLJ, not Who), The Don, etc.). Actually when I chatted with him I called him Dr.Carson, and then felt embarassedly Britishly formal. But as we're rather concerned with correctness and yet sadly lacking in greeting/goodbye procedural policy in Britain, unlike most of our European neighbours, we spend much of life feeling awkwardly over-formal or embarassed at over-familiarity.

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